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How can I automatically delete all other kernels which I'm not using?

So, here's my situation:

  • Using different versions of Ubuntu / CentOS
  • Automatic updates were on -> Linux downloaded many new kernel versions
  • Now I want to delete all other kernel versions, except the one I'm currently using

Code:

#find out current kernel version: uname -r #check which versions are downloaded to computer dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image #delete desired kernel sudo apt-get purge [KERNEL] #autoremove sudo apt-get autoremove

There can be easily more than 15 kernels in one linux, and I have more than 50 linuxes which I have to go through.

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4 Answers 4

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On Ubuntu you can use purge-old-kernels to purge old kernels , to install it:

For ubuntu 16.04 

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys F430BBA5 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:byobu/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install byobu

Also you can install it without adding the ppa: sudo apt-get install byobu

For Ubuntu versions lower than 16.04

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bikeshed/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install bikeshed

Run the following command to keeping the latest 2 kernel :

sudo purge-old-kernels

You can specify the number n of kernel to keep:

sudo purge-old-kernels --keep n

n=1:

sudo purge-old-kernels --keep 1

On centOS install yum-utils package :

yum install yum-utils

To keep the latest n kernels , run:

package-cleanup --oldkernels --count=n

n=1:

package-cleanup --oldkernels --count=1
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  • 1
    The Centos no longer works with Centos 8 onwards. Gives the error message package-cleanup has to be executed with one of the options: --dupes, --leaves, --orphans, --problems or --cleandupes Refer my answer below for a working solution for Centos 8 Commented Mar 19, 2021 at 19:42
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For Centos 8 onwards you can use the command:

dnf remove --oldinstallonly

This removes all old versions of the kernel. Use when you want to have only the latest release version of the kernel installed.

My original answer at: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/628434/145515

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Be aware, this command removes all kernel images and headers of major release 4, but not the running one.

apt purge $(dpkg-query -W -f='${binary:Package}\n' 'linux-image-4*' 'linux-headers-4*' | grep -v $(uname -r))
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You can try the below command. Before you execute apt-get purge, just double check the output of your grep to not contain your current kernel version

dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{print $2}' | grep -v linux-image-`uname -r` | xargs apt-get purge
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